Blessings, and benefits in life can be a lot of joy and excitement but can also be a great test and temptation to depend on one's self. When Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the Law of the Lord, and all Israel followed him in this sin.
Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. The prophet Shemaiah said to Rehoboam, "This is what the Lord says: You have abandoned me, so I am abandoning you to Shishak."
The Leaders quickly realized that God was right in his assessment of them, as they humbled themselves, God said, "I will not completely destroy them and will soon give them some relief."
The king of Egypt did come into Jerusalem, ransacked the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the royal palace: he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
When we choose to live another life, turn our back on God's goodness and mercy and blessings, trouble is on the way. God says; "Because you have turned your back on me, I will turn my back on you."
King Rehoboam later replaced the gold shields with bronze shields as substitutes. Never forget that forgetting God and turning our hearts to other gods will always cause us to lose the blessing and benefits of God.
King Rehoboam ended up with bronze, less than what God had ordered and ordained for his leadership.
There's no joy in bronze shields when you could have had gold. It represents less than God's best for your life. It represents the brokenness that comes as a result of our disobedience and stubbornness. Had Rehoboam stayed true to God, he would have never lost the gold and God's protection from the enemy.
May his story be a reminder to each of us to appreciate God's blessing and benefits that comes from a life that stays focused and continues to fight the good fight of faith? Remember your focus leads to your thoughts then to your emotions then to your decisions then to your actions, then to your habits, then to your character, then ultimately to you're destiny.
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